19 Feb Irish Film Week: Belfast as Inspiration, Oscar Winners, Beckett on Screen, Midnight Screenings
As part of the Beogradski irski festival (BIF), Irish Film Week will take place from March 14 to 20 – a seven-day programme presenting a representative selection of contemporary Irish feature and documentary films, accompanied by conversations with filmmakers and special guests.
This year’s film stars and guests of Belgrade are acclaimed Irish filmmakers: director Neil Jordan, actor Stephen Rea, best known for his collaborations with Jordan, and Oscar-nominated Irish actress Ruth Negga.
Jordan and Rea will be presented with the Golden Seal of the Yugoslav Film Archive for their contribution to the art of film. Audiences will also have the opportunity to watch the now-classic The Crying Game, which won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, a BAFTA for Best Film, and a total of 21 awards. (March 20, Yugoslav Film Archive).
Irish Film Week opens with Christy, a notable debut feature that captured the attention of European festival audiences and won the Grand Prix for Best Film at the 2025 Berlinale in the Generation 14plus programme, which focuses on the lives and experiences of young people. On this occasion, Belgrade will host actor Diarmuid Noyce, one of the film’s leading performers, known to local audiences from the TV series The Tudors and Borgia. A Q&A with the actor will follow the screening (March 14 at 20:00, Yugoslav Film Archive).
Belfast and the Legacy of Conflict as Enduring Themes of Irish Cinema
Audiences in Serbia recognise Irish art, especially film, through its openness in addressing the legacy of the conflict in Northern Ireland, as well as the family and personal dramas shaped by that turbulent period. This year’s programme once again includes films dealing with these themes, with particular attention drawn to the documentary The Hearth, composed of footage recorded by residents of Belfast themselves.
The film is directed by Mark Cousins, one of the most prominent contemporary documentary filmmakers, known for his monumental, multi-hour works exploring the history of cinema, including The Story of Film: An Odyssey, Women Make Film: A New Road Movie Through Cinema, and The Story of Documentary Film (2026). Mark Cousins will be a guest in Belgrade and will speak with the audience following the screening on March 18.
A related subject is explored in The Flats, set in a part of Belfast that was completely devastated during the period known as the Troubles. The film’s director, Alessandra Celesia, combines archival footage, interviews, observational scenes, and reconstructions to create a portrait of a neighbourhood where memory and the present moment merge.
Beckett on Film
For the first time in Belgrade, audiences will have the opportunity to see the landmark screen project Beckett on Film — nearly 11 hours of filmed adaptations of all 19 plays by Samuel Beckett, the father of the Theatre of the Absurd and one of Ireland’s most influential literary figures.
The project brought together 19 directors, including Neil Jordan, David Mamet, and Anthony Minghella, as well as actors such as Jeremy Irons, Julianne Moore, and Alan Rickman — a true treat for admirers of Beckett’s work.
Irish Film Week will also present the documentary The Man Who Shot Beckett, a portrait of the eighty-year-old cameraman who filmed the writer, as well as Eh Joe, a screen version of Beckett’s first television play directed by Alan Gilsenan. Gilsenan has also directed a theatre piece dedicated to Beckett’s poetry, which will premiere at Atelje 212, and he will be a guest of Belgrade during the festival.
An Oscar Contender, a Queer Comedy, and Sinéad O’Connor on Screen
During Irish Film Week, Belgrade audiences will also have the chance to revisit Sanatorium, Ireland’s Oscar submission this year — a witty documentary following a year in the life of a crumbling health resort in Odesa, Ukraine.
The programme also includes the queer comedy Four Mothers, starring Fionnula Flanagan, who won an award for her role at the San Diego Film Festival, and the drama Spilled Milk, a coming-of-age story set in early 1980s Dublin, during the height of the city’s heroin crisis.
Midnight Screenings, a Surprise Film and “Treasures of the Irish Film Archive”
New additions to this year’s Irish Film Week include the programme segment Treasures of the Irish Film Archive, a midnight screening slot, and a surprise film.
From the archives, audiences will see Hush-a-Bye Baby, a 1990 drama set at a time when the state and the Church in Ireland exercised strict control over women’s bodies. The film tells the story of a teenage girl at a Catholic school facing an unplanned pregnancy. Music lovers and admirers of Sinéad O’Connor — an artist deeply loved in Serbia — will be especially pleased, as she composed the film’s score and also appears on screen.
In the midnight screening slot — a festival tradition embraced by major film festivals around the world and now by Belgrade — audiences will have the chance to see one of the latest films starring Nicolas Cage, the psychological thriller The Surfer.
Another prominent contemporary Irish artist is coming to Belgrade — DJ and music curator Donal Dineen. Audiences will have the opportunity to watch his autobiographical film Dance of Memory and then enjoy a three-hour club night he will headline at Silosi, closing this year’s Beogradski irski festival on March 21.
All tickets for Irish Film Week are available via the Tickets.rs platform and at the box office of the Jugoslovenska kinoteka, Uzun Mirkova 1.